Telling Stories: Circular economy design
As part of a commitment to sustainability, an increasing number of businesses are choosing to design their products based on circular economy rather than linear economy principles. This post will explore what the difference between linear and circular economy approaches to design are and an industry-specific example of how businesses begin to implement these ideas as part of their sustainability strategies.
Image from the Circular Design Toolbox
The idea of the circular economy has arisen from a number of different movements and ideas. The most influential are the Cradle to Cradle certification and biomimicry. Both of these see natural design as one where “waste” is never thrown away in natural systems. Instead, nature uses waste or breaks it apart until it becomes something new or is used to nourish the development of other things.
A circular economy takes a regenerative and restorative approach to business and design. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation is focused on education and support for companies moving towards this approach and has all sorts of free tools and information about this approach.
Image from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation website
After discussion at the 2017 Copenhagen Fashion Summit, over 80 companies signed up for a circular design commitment called the 2020 Circular Fashion Commitment. The fashion industry produces a lot of waste not only during the manufacturing process by using toxic chemicals for dying and processing but also with material “off-cuts” which produces billions of tons of waste each year. The “afterwards” of fashion also produces billions of tons of waste again each year with unsold garments and used clothing.
For this reason, a number of fashion companies signed up to the 2020 Commitment to:
Action point 1: Implement design strategies for cyclability
Action point 2: Increase the volume of used garments and footwear collected
Action point 3: Increase the volume of used garments and footwear resold
Action point 4: Increase the share of garments and footwear made from recycled
post-consumer textile fibres
What this effectively means is that they will design patterns that produce less waste. Part of the circular economy idea is that manufacturers are responsible for the items they produce regardless of what stage these items are at in their lifecycle meaning that even after they have been sold, the companies that sold them - if they are responsible and sustainable companies - are still designing ways to ensure that their products do not become obsolete and end up in landfills or as some other type of waste.
For this reason, sustainable companies design products which last longer and can be repaired. They also often begin “take back” programs where customers can return used items of clothing knowing that they will be re-used and made into new garments if they are not simply re-sold “as is”.
A wide range of fashion companies signed up to these commitments, including many large, global companies and their plans involve a range of interpretations of this. Many of their approaches begin with training their designers in circular design to design for increased durability and repairability as well as designing for:
-disassembly (so items can be more easily recycled and “parts” re-used more easily)
-fibre recycling (involving re-evaluation of the types of materials used, usually choosing other materials of higher “quality” meaning more durable/repairable and less toxic to produce)
-biodegradability (creating fabrics and designs that ensure clothing can be composted after it is no longer worn)
To find out more about the Toolkit provided to fashion companies (it involves a series of useful definitions, practical ideas and Case Studies), click here.
Differences between a linear and circular economy?
The idea for circular economies arose from the fact that “doing business as usual”, based on old industrial models of manufacturing and production, are often energy-intensive and create a lot of waste. If you are trying to be as sustainable as possible, it makes sense to many businesses to use an approach that comes from both a different starting and end point instead of trying to adapt and make the best of more problematic system and approach.
The idea of the circular economy has arisen from a number of different movements and ideas. The most influential are the Cradle to Cradle certification and biomimicry. Both of these see natural design as one where “waste” is never thrown away in natural systems. Instead, nature uses waste or breaks it apart until it becomes something new or is used to nourish the development of other things.
A circular economy takes a regenerative and restorative approach to business and design. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation is focused on education and support for companies moving towards this approach and has all sorts of free tools and information about this approach.
After discussion at the 2017 Copenhagen Fashion Summit, over 80 companies signed up for a circular design commitment called the 2020 Circular Fashion Commitment. The fashion industry produces a lot of waste not only during the manufacturing process by using toxic chemicals for dying and processing but also with material “off-cuts” which produces billions of tons of waste each year. The “afterwards” of fashion also produces billions of tons of waste again each year with unsold garments and used clothing.
For this reason, a number of fashion companies signed up to the 2020 Commitment to:
Action point 1: Implement design strategies for cyclability
Action point 2: Increase the volume of used garments and footwear collected
Action point 3: Increase the volume of used garments and footwear resold
Action point 4: Increase the share of garments and footwear made from recycled
post-consumer textile fibres
What this effectively means is that they will design patterns that produce less waste. Part of the circular economy idea is that manufacturers are responsible for the items they produce regardless of what stage these items are at in their lifecycle meaning that even after they have been sold, the companies that sold them - if they are responsible and sustainable companies - are still designing ways to ensure that their products do not become obsolete and end up in landfills or as some other type of waste.
For this reason, sustainable companies design products which last longer and can be repaired. They also often begin “take back” programs where customers can return used items of clothing knowing that they will be re-used and made into new garments if they are not simply re-sold “as is”.
A wide range of fashion companies signed up to these commitments, including many large, global companies and their plans involve a range of interpretations of this. Many of their approaches begin with training their designers in circular design to design for increased durability and repairability as well as designing for:
-disassembly (so items can be more easily recycled and “parts” re-used more easily)
-fibre recycling (involving re-evaluation of the types of materials used, usually choosing other materials of higher “quality” meaning more durable/repairable and less toxic to produce)
-biodegradability (creating fabrics and designs that ensure clothing can be composted after it is no longer worn)
To find out more about the Toolkit provided to fashion companies (it involves a series of useful definitions, practical ideas and Case Studies), click here.
